Higher-Rent District : Mall Expansion Would Bring New Stores but Some Others Might Leave

Joseph Dennison remembers the day 33 years ago when he stood with 10 other Thousand Oaks businessmen for the ribbon-cutting of the Janss Mall.

“Of the 11, I’m the only one still here,” the barber shop owner said Friday. “And pretty soon, I’ll be gone.”

Dennison is moving from the mall in a few months because if expansion plans--scheduled to be heard by the Planning Commission on Monday--are approved, higher rents will make it too tough to stay, he said.

But Dennison, like many who visit the mall regularly, said he looks forward to the expansion.

“Frankly, this place needs a face lift,” he said. “If I owned the mall I’d do the same thing.”

If the expansion proposal is approved by the Planning Commission and the City Council, mall owner Bill Janss will make major improvements to the aging facility.

The $50-million expansion would bring in a dozen new businesses, including major chains such as Mervyn’s, Blockbuster Video and Barnes & Noble.

Also, to attract more business in the evening, Janss said he has signed agreements with Mann Theaters and several restaurants to move to the shopping center near the corner of Moorpark Road and Hillcrest Drive.

“We’re creating a whole new mall,” Janss said from his Santa Monica office Friday. “But we’re keeping the outdoor feel and the historic flavor of the mall that has been there for years.”

The Planning Commission will debate several items on Janss’ expansion wish list, including two buildings that exceed city height limits, eight free-standing signs that do not meet city code, and on-building signs that exceed size limits.

Janss said he expects only moderate opposition to the plan because of community interest in refurbishing the mall, which is the oldest in the Conejo Valley and predates the city’s incorporation by three years, according to city planners.

“There’s been a general interest in this project because of the mall’s place in this community’s history,” said Janss, who introduced the plan in two public gatherings last year. “By and large, the public has offered us a lot of support.”

At the mall Friday, several frequent visitors said they favored the expansion.

“It can’t come soon enough,” said Gladys Canto, who eats lunch almost every day at a picnic table in one of the mall’s many outdoor walkways.

“I’m not concerned about the height,” she said. “It can’t possibly get bigger than that Civic Arts Plaza.”

Some operators of smaller businesses, however, said they were dismayed by plans to double rents after the expansion is complete. Several stores have already left the facility, and when the rents climb, they say, others will surely follow.

“We like this location, but if we have to pay too much to stay here it will kill us,” said Tom Vlachos, owner of Conejo Camera and Video. “There’s only so much we can take.”

Dennison said the mall had no choice but to bring in chain stores with name recognition because of competition from The Oaks mall nearby.

The larger stores, led by Mervyn’s, will pay for about $15 million in additions, while Janss will cover about $35 million of the cost.

If the plans are approved, Janss said, construction will begin in June and be completed by the summer of 1995.

The planning commissioners were not available for comment because they were attending a seminar in San Diego.

The public hearing on the expansion proposal will be held Monday in City Hall at 7:30 p.m.